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Dear Father in heaven this is your hour this is the Hour of Power the hour of the time for the Holy Spirit and we pray that you will do something special here in Greenville South Carolina and that you will take my words that you will take your words that you will take this talk and you will use it and spread it around the world through technology that people will hear and listen and respond and that their hearts will be deeply moved that you will use this to bring about revival among your people for we desperately need revival desperately need the Holy Spirit to counteract the forces of evil the forces of the devil please send the Holy Spirit here right now we pray in Jesus' name amen and all right well this morning this is May 19th 2018 right something else happened today anybody know about something rather you know it's something big you probably didn't watch it but today's a big wedding day you know that well I got up this morning and I went to the little restaurant in our hotel where I eat my breakfast and pass to Ron He eats his breakfast and as I was sitting there reading my Bible and eating my granola and my orange I couldn't help but notice the television set that was there in the room and and it was actually a blessing to me to happen to just tune in at that moment to the vows the sacred vows that Prince Harry and Megan Markel were saying to each other on live television was rather exciting a royal wedding. In St George's Chapel in wins sort castle there were about 600 people apparently that were actually there on site but from what I what I've gathered there were millions of people watching online and I was 1 of them or at least I was watching from the television set watching worldwide and when they said their vows there was a prayer that was offered and the television that I saw there was no sound but the closed caption you know was right there the words were repeated right in front of my eyes as I was sitting there on a Sabbath morning reading my Bible I saw these words talking about the father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and I just thought wow you know that is impressive that you have millions of people watching and listening and seeing the words of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and it spoke to my heart because the Bible talks about the father and the Son and the Holy Spirit very definitely and the 1st text I want to read I've got quite a few verses I want to share with you but I want to start out with Matthew Chapter 3 to another royal moment it was an irrational wedding but it was a royal baptism when Jesus Christ came out of the water approximately 2000 years ago when he was baptized in the Jordan River and verse 16 says when he had been baptized. Jesus came up immediately from the water now here is the Son of God coming out of the water and behold it says the heavens were open to him and he saw and what did he see he saw this Spirit of God That's right descending like a dove and alighting upon him so there is the Holy Spirit coming down and verse 17 says suddenly a voice came from heaven and the voice said This is my beloved Son in whom I am a well please so there you have the Son of God coming out of the water you have the Holy Spirit coming down and you have the father speaking from heaven saying this is my Son in whom I am well pleased in the in the book the desire of ages there's a chapter called the baptism that talks about Jesus' baptism and let me just read a just a couple of quick sentences When Jesus prayed at the banks of the Jordan River it says that the father himself decided to answer the petition of his son direct from the throne issued the beams of his glory and then it says the heavens were open and upon the Savior's head descends a dove like form of purest light a fit emblem of him the meek and the lowly 1 a dove like form of the purest light came down from heaven and alighted upon Jesus don't you want that. Form and that power and that Holy Spirit of purest light to come in to your life I do I want that very very much I have my mind has been has been greatly. Moved recently by our and it's not just recent It's actually been quite a while but it recently as well 4 of about our great need for the Holy Spirit for the Spirit of God. In our church here may be aware of the fact that there is quite a controversy going on about the father and the Son and the Holy Spirit did you know that quite a controversy in some circles and my conviction is that we don't need to define the nature of the Holy Spirit in all of its details there are mysteries about the father and the Son and the Holy Spirit that are beyond us that you know our little minds just can't grasp rather then define all the details of the Holy Spirit our great need is to receive the Holy Spirit into our souls and the Bible is very very clear about that very clear and that leads me to our next text which was read during the scripture reading which is Luke chapter 11 verse 13 Luke 1113. The Holy Spirit was not just for Jesus that his baptism the Holy Spirit is for you and for me the Holy Spirit can change your life. Can you just imagine you know a the holy. So Spirit coming in to your mind and into your heart what will that do for you what will that do for me Luke chapter 11 verse 13 this is what Jesus said Jesus said If you then being evil it's not very flattering but that is the truth that we by nature are selfish evil beings by nature you know were a blend of all kinds of things we are we are battlefields if you think the big big battle you know could be between North Korea South Korea China and the United States you know we don't know what's going to happen in the future but I tell you the biggest battle is what's going on inside people's souls it's not what's going on out there it's what's going on in here and we naturally Jesus said are evil but still if we if you then being evil you still know how to give good gifts to your children how many parents do we have here a lot of your parents I'm a parent I have a 10 year old I have a 13 year old I understand the challenging the challenges of parenting and the blessings of being a parent and even though by nature you know I'm far from perfect and I have an evil bent and I have a selfish nature that I have to wrestle with and fight with I still know how to give give good gifts to my kids. Parents do even though we're evil we know how to give good gifts to our children because we love our children and Jesus he's drawing a contrast here now he says if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your heavenly Father say you have a you have a parent in heaven you have a Heavenly Father and Our Heavenly Father is not evil he has no bent to evil at all he is absolutely completely 100 percent through and through perfect love and Jesus says that if we who are evil know how to give good gifts to our children how much how much more how much more will your heavenly Father give and what does he say he will give he says he will give the Holy Spirit to those to those who do what to those who ask Him now the words there's a condition Jesus is saying that that your God your Father is very willing to give you the Holy Spirit very willing but you have to do your part and I have to do my part and our part according to this text or in this text is to is to ask him in other words we need to open our mouths in prayer we need to use our tongues like Pastor Ron talked about this morning during the children story we need to use our tongues we need to open our mouths we need to pray and we need to ask our Father specifically to give us the Holy Spirit to see that. Now I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand but I'm just going to ask you how many of you have done that and I'm not asking to raise your hand I mean let's you know but I don't want to Bear's people but anyway just you know you know when you're in your heart you know in your mind you know the answer to that question have you actually opened your mouth and if you asked God to give you the Holy Spirit if you haven't. The invitation is open this morning Jesus Jesus Christ tells us in this text that that's what he wants us to do he wants us to actually ask you know it's not enough just to believe about the Holy Spirit it's not enough just to believe it's in the Bible that there is a father and the Son and the Holy Spirit Jesus says no he wants more than that he wants us to actually open our mouths and to pray a prayer and to say out loud with our lips Dear God Dear Father in the name of Jesus I pray that you will give me the Holy Spirit give me the Holy Spirit I need the Holy Spirit Now sometimes we might think well I don't know if I really want to do that you might be thinking I don't know if I really want to do that well you know let me ask you why not why not well you might think well you know I don't know what the Holy Spirit is going to do when he comes in you know he might want me to do something something strange or something that I don't want to do but whatever your thoughts are whatever your thoughts are realize that your thoughts are just your own small mind reasoning this through and that God is much bigger than your mind. He's a much bigger than you are in fact in fact when you read the Bible and accept the Bible God made you He made your brain he made your body he made your heart your liver your lungs your capacity to think was made by God and the God who made you knows what's best for you and the best thing that you can do for your life for your future for your soul is to follow his instruction and open your mouth and pray for the Holy Spirit and sometimes people don't want to do that because there's things in their life that they don't want to give up now honestly that's not a good reason not to pray it's not a good reason if there are things in your life that you don't want to give up those things that are not God's Will those things are really not good for you they're not good for you God knows what's best for you he wants what's best for you even more than you want what's best for you he loves you he loves you more than you love your kids and he knows what's best for you and he can help you good morning thank you for coming we're in Luke chapter 11 verse 13 God knows what's best for us and Jesus tells us in this verse that he wants us to pray and to ask him for the Holy Spirit. I don't I can't go into all the details about struggles that I've had in my life I've been a Christian for almost 40 years became a Christian when I was 26 years after I became a Christian I went through a terrible crisis you know Christians do struggle. I heard a man once giving giving a talk and he said some people think Christians don't struggle and he said that's not true and he said you know how I know that and then you look at the crowd he said I know that because your struggling and you know isn't that the truth I mean and after Jesus was baptized in the Holy Spirit came down right after that he went into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil he struggled in the wilderness so Christians do struggle and I went through a big struggle in 1986 I was living in a little town called Pacifica Pacifica California just north of or just south of San Francisco and I was living in an apartment by myself I wasn't married I was a pastor of 2 churches and I was living in this apartment right on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean that if any of you have ever seen ever saw some footage or some pictures that were online about a number of years ago I believe it was. As a result of an earthquake or the movement of the ground that there were apartments right on the edge of this cliff and the cliff was was falling down and I actually lived right on that cliff before it fell down and it was in 19061 night I was in my room my apartment by myself I was a young pastor fresh out of the seminary my mind was full of all kinds of different ideas than I had been exposed to and at this time in my life I was very very confused and I was struggling. With different things different ideas and with pressures that I was feeling inside info inside me and the pressures were just tempting me to just give it all up and go back to my old life go back to the life I used to live growing up in North Hollywood go into the discos smoking marijuana you know going down to Zuma Beach and partying with my buddies my carefree teenage life and this this temptation just came to me Steve you're struggling and it why don't you just stop with this whole Christian thing stop with this whole 70 AD and it's thing this pastor thing and why don't you just go back to your old life and and go down to the beach and lay out and get some sun. And maybe grab some some some marijuana go find a disco go dance and listen to John Travolta. And I tell you the battle was on the battle was on I was struggling what am I going to do Lord Mike my Christian life is is just not working for me right now I'm battling I don't have peace I'm not happy I'm supposed to be a pastor I'm supposed to stand in front of a crowd and share the Bible. And I just don't know if I can do it and I'm tempted to just go back to my old life and I tell you the struggle was very very real and at the height of this battle I remember turning off the lights and I got on my knees and I prayed and this thought came to my head it was it wasn't an audible thought but it was an impression this impression just came into my mind and then and this is what it said it was like a voice said to me pray for the Holy Spirit. Pray for the Spirit of truth to guide you into all truth quoting John 16 verse 13 where Jesus said When the Spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth and this conviction just came to me pray for the Spirit of Truth pray for the Spirit of Truth pray for the Spirit of truth and so I decided to start doing that I thought alright Lord if you want me to do it I'll do that and so I prayed God send me the Holy Spirit send me the Spirit of Truth help me to understand what's going on in the middle of my turmoil and that like I said I don't have time to go into all the details but when I started praying that prayer there was a certain sequence of events step by step by step by step my mind began to clear up my confusion began to go away I began to see what I needed to do how I needed to humble myself how I needed to confess my sins how I needed to come back to a close relationship with Jesus that I had without realizing it strayed from and I tell you that was the best thing that I've I've ever done was to begin to pray for the Holy Spirit and God answered that prayer and that was in 1906 on that much of a mathematician but how many years ago is that 8696 and thirty's you know is that about 32 years ago right something like that. 32 years ago and I praise God and you know what I'm not going through those struggles right now that I was going through in 1906 I'm not tempted to go out and listen to John Travolta and go out on the disco. I don't do that anymore you know I still like laying out on the beach and getting sun that's for sure but I've you know God has changed me he's changed my life he's changed my life many times he changed my life in 1979 when I became a Christian he changed my life in 1906 when I recommitted my life to him and there's just been step by step by step in the last 40 years when God has done so much for me so much for me and I am so I'm happy today I really am you know I'm not going through those battles that I used to go through although the battle still on and I've learned my lesson that I have to be on my knees a lot and I'm still praying for the Holy Spirit Day by day by day because I've learned my lesson I've learned my lesson that praying for the Holy Spirit is the best thing that I can do for myself it's my greatest need it just does so much for me and I want to share some more thoughts. From the Bible as to what praying for the Holy Spirit can do for you what it can do for you so here's our next text John Chapter 16 verse 7 and 8 John 1678. I am so thankful my Christian life is alive I'm not a dead Christian I'm a living Christian God is working in my life he's not done with me yet still got more to do I heard a minister say God's not going to take us out of the oven had half baked he's got work to do in US it's got work to do in my heart work to do in your heart but he can accomplish that work if you will make a choice and open the door of your heart to the Holy Spirit to come into your life he'll do amazing things for you things that you can't even imagine. John Chapter 16 verse 7 and 8 Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit it was 1 of his favorite subjects he said nevertheless I tell you the truth this is the truth it is to your advantage that I go away where Jesus is talking about him leaving this earth and going to heaven for if I do not go away the Helper will not come to you but if I depart I will send him to you and I'm reading from the New King James Bible and Jesus is referring to the Holy Spirit and He calls him the helper what other translations do you have instead of the word helper OK The Comforter K. the the helper and the comforter how many of us need a helper or a comforter in our lives I think we all do everybody dense so Jesus says I will send him to you and verse 8 says when he has come He will know the 1st thing he does is he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment to the Holy Spirit 1 of the things the Holy Spirit does when he comes into our hearts is he convicts us where we are not holy he is the Holy Spirit and if you're not holy yourself then there's some convicting that needs to take place right and you know what we're you know none of us have arrived. Where we need to be but there it's there is lots of room for conviction of a conviction means that the Holy Spirit speaks to your conscience you that little part of you that little part called your conscience and he convicts you about certain areas in your life that need to be changed certain areas that just aren't right with God. And the Holy Spirit is trying really hard these days to convict people but the problem is that we closed the door we just shut it so tight so the Holy Spirit can't get in but if we'll just open that door just a little bit and then a little bit more the Holy Spirit will come in and he will start showing us things where we need correcting and and we have to realize that his correction is for our benefit it's for our good the Holy Spirit's job is not to hurt you it's not to mess you up it's not to ruin you it's not to make you miserable it's not to give you a bad life the Holy Spirit's job is to is to help you in your life to make you a better person to bless you to improve your life you know and as you look at what's happening in this world today I mean this world is falling apart morally you know people are just flying they're going off the deep in that they're walking into schools and they're killing their own classmates school shootings people you know they they don't know whether they're a boy or girl anymore we're all mixed up. We're just you know we're a mixed up generation we really are mixed up and we have all kinds of battles and temptations and struggles and ideas and and pressures from peers and from things that we watch and things we see on the Internet we have all kinds of pressures and we need we need someone and that someone is not just way up in the sky far far away that maybe or maybe you know hears our prayers or not you know Jesus was talking about someone invisible someone invisible who's going to come down from the sky and is going to come right into your head right into your mind and into your heart and who's going to help you in your life and in 1906 when I started praying that prayer I tell you you know when I did I started praying for the Holy Spirit there were things that happen to me that I can't really. I can hardly describe there was 1 time when I felt as the as I felt this power coming into me I felt these this pressure coming up and I remember 1 time it wasn't actually something that I could see like I can see you but in my in my mental thoughts it was like I could see all these faces looking at me all these faces looking at me and they were saying. Don't do that don't pray for the Holy Spirit no no no and I remember when I saw that in my mind's eye I thought yes I'm going to do that I'm going to pray for the Holy Spirit you know it's almost like Ned in a Nannette I'm going to do it and I don't care what you say and I knew at that moment that I was in a spiritual struggle it was a spiritual battle I was in. A battle with the devil a battle with the Evil Angels a battle with demons who wanted to gain full control of my mind and my heart and I I remember there were times you may not believe this but there were times when I would pray and I kept on praying I didn't stop praying for the Holy Spirit once I figured that out once the Spirit of Truth convinced me that I was in a smear or to a conflict with evil forces. I kept on praying and there were times when I would pray and I would feel the whole I would feel this power coming into me and I would feel these things coming up and sometimes I'd have I would have to grab on to either the floor where I was praying or grab onto a chair or something and I'd feel something go up. And it would almost be like throwing up and I didn't actually you know it didn't throw up but I could feel something coming out of me and I learned that these were these were demonic forces these were evil angels that the Holy Spirit was driving out of my mind and out of my heart and I take it was that it was amazing very very real very real and I know I know by personal experience that the Bible is true that the Holy Spirit is real and so is the devil and no 1 can ever convince me that that's not real I know it for sure I've experienced it I've experienced it. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and we need that conviction we desperately need it and he might convict you of 1 sin he doesn't can thank you thankfully he doesn't convict us of all of our sins all at once he starts with 1 thing or 2 things and then once we confess that to Jesus then he'll work on something else and he'll work on something else so he grew he goes he goes you know step by step according to what we can handle he carefully monitors our minds and our hearts and what we can take He's not going to give us more than we can handle but he's going to go he's going to go deep if we let Him If we let him OK next text revelation 5 or 6 I think I've got to have 4 more texts the Holy Spirit will come and he will convict us of sin and righteousness and judgment and then he will convict us when we're convicted of sin he points us somewhere he points us to someone and here's an important point the Holy Spirit will never convict you of a sin that Jesus didn't already die for so he doesn't convict you of sin to discourage you he convicts you of sin to encourage you to give that sin to Jesus because Jesus already died for that sin already and the Holy Spirit you know he wants to encourage us and point us to Jesus but the devil he wants to discourage us and make us think there's no hope for you no hope I have a brand new little book that just came out it's available from Whitehorse media and it's called Hope for the hopeless no matter how hope less we may think we are. And all those thoughts that may tell us there's no hope for you there's hope for everybody else but not for you I tell him that line comes from the devil it does not come from Jesus does not come from the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit's goal is not to ruin us but to save us it's not to drive us to despair but it's to bring us to the Savior and in Revelation 5 or 6 it gives us a glimpse into the throne room the throne room of heaven John says I looked and behold in the midst of the throne and of the 4 living creatures and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as though it had been slain having 7 horns and 7 eyes horns This is a symbol of power there is 7 and 7 is that God's perfect number perfect power and eyes is a symbol of wisdom and so 7 eyes represents perfect wisdom Jesus has perfect power and perfect wisdom and it says that these are the 7 severe it's of God sent out into all the year and this is talking about the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit is sent out into all the earth and why is the Holy Spirit sent out to all the year where does he want to direct people's minds in their faith to it's to the Lamb in the midst of the throne who has been slain when the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin he wants us to look to Jesus Jesus loves us Jesus is in the middle of the throne of the universe he is a big savior he's a big God He has perfect wisdom perfect power and he knows how to help you he knows how to put your life back together no matter what you're going through. And that the Holy Spirit sent out into all the earth wants us to look at the Lamb So when we're convicted of sin what we need to do is we need to get on our knees and we need to say Jesus I'm so sorry for all these things that my life that the Holy Spirit is convicting me of you know I've done this this this this and this and I need you I need you and so what we do is then we trust you we trust Jesus we say Lord I trust you I give you these sins because you paid the price and you died on the cross for all my sins and I trust you as my Savior can we do that and we ask for the Holy Spirit and then confess our sins and say Jesus I give them to you I trust you as my Savior we can do that you can do that I can do that we can all we can all do that so the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and he points us to Jesus next text is Romans Chapter 5 verse 5. Romans 5 verse 5. Ever heard that song What The World Needs Now I'm not going to sing it I'm not a singer. But you get the tune in your mind you know what the World Needs Now what does the world name now it's love that's right and I'm not talking about marshmallow love I'm not talking about the love where anything and everything goes talking about God's love real love that's the love that we need and Romans Chapter 5 Verse 5 says hope does not disappoint us because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by who by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. So what the world needs now is love sweet love but the only way to really get real love is through the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit of God will bring love into your heart that he will forgive you yes even you so when when a holy spirit comes into an unholy body and an unholy mind and convicts an unholy mind that we've sinned and were convicted about that and we confess that and say Jesus I trust in you with my life then the Holy Spirit continues to show us that God loves you he hasn't rejected you even big event though you're a sinner he still loves you Jesus paid the price for all your sins and he'll forgive everything you've ever done everything you've ever done and what that does is that you know at some point there is a creation of a sense of lot of in our hearts we go wow boy heard you love me you know and that love can change you love changes a person and this verse tells us that that love comes into our hearts by the Holy Spirit is our greatest need we've got to have the Holy Spirit we need him so desperately now next text Romans Chapter 7 Romans 7 verse 240 how I can relate to this verse Romans 724 I've just you know I'm wrestled with my life and there have been times when I have just felt like this is me verse 240 wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this the body of this death. Lord I'm in a body of death I'm in a body that has all kinds of thoughts that I don't want I'm in a body that has you know battles and heart struggles and and conflicts and not only that Lord but I guess I don't have any strength to fight these forces they're too strong they're too strong and sometimes it takes a while for us to realize that but finally if the Holy Spirit can really get in we can finally come to the conclusion Lord I am I'm a slave I'm helpless there are sins and temptations in my life that I just can not get the victory over on my own you know some people are hooked on pornography they're online and they don't want to do it a lot of men don't want to be on these websites and there are women on these websites to not just a male thing it's women too and you know sometimes you know people say I don't want to do this but they can't stop they can't stop the next time they get online click click click they're right back at those same sites and then they hate themselves after that and they say I don't want to do this anymore it's going to ruin my life my marriage you know what if my kids found out how many people have been busted you know and their whole lives are ruined How many of these big you know news anchors and these media people recently have been exposed and their their lives are over now it's because they've been controlled by forces that they can't fight on their own. And we all have things that we struggle with and finally you know we come to the conclusion who who will deliver me from the body of this death who will do it who can get me out of these struggles and somebody get me out yes somebody can the next verse says I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord and then for Chapter 8 verses 1 to 4 tells us how Jesus Christ delivers us from the body of this death and he does it through the Holy Spirit verse 1 says there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit so the flesh wants to control us but the Holy Spirit can come in for the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death for what the law could not do in that it was a weak through the flesh God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and on account of sand he condemned sin in the flesh Jesus entered the very flesh that we struggle with and he get the he got the victory over the flesh through the power of the Holy Spirit that was in him. And then verse 4 says that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to what according to the spirit right so even though we're in a body of death and even though we have a flesh that wants to go 1 way we don't have to follow that flesh we don't have to yield to that flesh we don't have to go along with that flesh someone inside of us can give us the victory in desire by ages page 671 listen to this it says here the power of evil had been strengthening for centuries which is very very true and submission the submission of men to this say tannic captivity was amazing and then it says sin could be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the 3rd Person of the Godhead who would come with no modified energy but in the fullness of divine power the 3rd Person of the Godhead there is a father there is a son and there is a Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is the 3rd person of the Godhead and he can come into us and into me with not with modified energy. But with the fullness of D. by power and when that power comes in to us that power of the Holy Spirit we can say no to the devil we can say no to the flesh we can say no to the temptations of this world we can overcome these pressures these sins these temptations these lusts these websites all the temptations are all around us brothers and sisters we can overcome these things we don't have to be born down by the current of evil and drown we don't have to drown we can survive we can stand up we can be free through the power of God's Holy Spirit don't ever let the devil convince you that there is a sin in your life that you cannot overcome there is no sin in your life that you cannot overcome don't let the devil convince you of that he's a liar he's a liar now don't think you can overcome it on your own because you can't you can't but you can overcome through the power of the Holy Spirit do you see why we need the Holy Spirit we really need the Holy Spirit every day every day day after day we need to be praying for the Holy Spirit like Jesus said now the last text that I want to share is Romans Chapter 15 verse 13 actually I think I have 1 more after that which is in Revelation Romans Chapter 15 verse 13 I love this text yeah. Yes the I love this text this is a great verse this is a great text Romans 1513 says Now May the God of hope fill you with all the joy and peace in believing that sound like something good that sound like something you want in your life if you want joy if you want peace all joy and all peace that sounds pretty positive to me but how do we were do we get that where do we get that joy in peace it's in believing believing the bible believing in Jesus believing what you're hearing today this is true I'm telling you the truth that you may a battle and in hope it says by the power of 2 of the Holy Spirit there it is so the Holy Spirit's not going to ruin our life he's going to bless us he's going to save us and if we follow where the Holy Spirit leads step by step of Eventually he will lead us into joy and peace and power and I tell you we need power you know the battle that we're in with the devil we need more than just human reasoning it's not enough just to come to some you know correct. Ideas it's not enough we need more than just correct ideas correct ideas are important truth is important but we need more than just correct ideas we need power we need the power of the Holy Spirit and that's what the Bible sense and if we're willing to do that if we're willing to pray for the Holy Spirit and let Him guide us step by step I take he'll just do wonders for us. You know some There was a time in my life as a mention in 19061 of the things that I struggled with at that time was that the Bible was very very it seemed very distant and I would read the Bible at that time in my life and it would just seem like it was father away and it you know I just couldn't I couldn't get a hold of it I couldn't grab the promises I couldn't feel the power I couldn't find the joy and that was part of my struggle it just seemed so far away I couldn't relate to it and but the Lord showed me that the problem that the Bible wasn't far away what was far away was me it was me I was the problem not God and as I prayed and the whole had prayed for the Holy Spirit little by little Bible verses began to come alive they just they came alive that there they came they became like fire that would just burn in my soul they would speak right to my heart right to my mind and now you know since that with 32 years later I tell you this book is alive. For me there are many a night so if I'm lying in bed and maybe if I can't sleep or as I'm going to bed or as I'm you know don't quite want to get out of bed in the morning I just think of scriptures I think of the word the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want he makes me to lie down in green pastures He leads me beside the quiet waters he restores my soul he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake Yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me your rod and your staff they comfort me I know so many promises I've got them all memorized or a lot of them memorized and I just go through them over and over and over again and I tell you they're they're better they're better than better than pizza better than a tofu burger. They're better than 1 of my favorite fruits is a fig or a persimmon and they're better than those the promises of God are wonderful and they're alive in my soul and this is because the Holy Spirit is in me and he's made the bible come alive and Jesus is alive in me well let me wind this up today May 19th was a royal wedding a royal wedding in England 2 young lovers committed themselves to each other in the sight of God in holy matrimony they said their vows and a prayer was offered in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. For the whole world or at least millions of people who are watching to witness those vows. The Bible says and this is my last text Revelation 19 verse 7 The Bible tells us that there is another wedding coming there is a royal wedding much more royal and much bigger than anything that people watched with Harry and Megan this is the time the marriage of the Lamb the marriage of the Lamb to his church to his bride to his people who have gotten themselves ready verse 7 says let us be glad and read Joyce and give Him glory give Him glory for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his wife his wife has made her self ready see that and if we want to be part of that marriage ceremony part of the the bride we want to be his wife clothed in a pure white Trask's a white robe of righteousness she is this crisis own righteousness if we want to be part of that wedding we need to make ourselves ready. And we do that through praying for the Holy Spirit opening our mounts and asking God to give us the Holy Spirit who will convict us of sin righteousness and judgement. Things that we need to change in our lives who point us to Jesus who loves us anyway even though we've sinned and who paid the price for all of our sins on the cross who will bring who will forgive us and who will bring love love into our hearts that we can't get anywhere else in this world and who will give us victory over the world the flesh and the devil who will give us victory and who will give us peace and joy as we wait for the big day for the big wedding day which is coming it's coming I'm here to tell you it's coming and we need to get ready and our greatest need that will help us to get ready is to pray for the Holy Spirit are you willing to do that this morning or Now it's afternoon we're just about done are you willing to do that I'd like to finish our time together with prayer I mean a meal up here you can kneel if you like or just remain seated sometimes you know people's knees don't cooperate and it might be hard for you to kneel but if you're able to kneel let's plex pray let's close our our time together by actually you know practicing what we've heard and let's pray for the Holy Spirit to come into our hearts to come into our lives we all need this I need it every day dear Father we come to you in the name of Jesus Jesus Christ our Savior and we want to do what Jesus said in Luke 1113 where he told us he invited us to ask. You for the Holy Spirit so we do that right now. As I say the words pray that everybody here will will say the words. Quietly or in their minds Jesus please give us the Holy Spirit please Lord give us the Holy Spirit the Spirit of truth to come into our minds come into our hearts help us to understand the truth of the Bible help us to understand that we're living in the last days help us to understand that Satan is a roaring lion seeking to destroy people and to destroy us help us to understand that Jesus is getting ready to come back and that this is the preparation time for the big wedding Lord get us ready get us already come Holy Spirit come Holy Spirit we need you come into our lives get us ready and prepare us for a wonderful day when Jesus will come the Lord bless our meeting at 4 o'clock. And that's 7 o'clock as we continue studying the book of Revelation about the end times and what will happen in the days ahead. Lord we pray in Jesus' name. 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